Despite its association with social criticism, the road movie genre frequently privileges a western, male subjectivity and presents unquestioningly his right to travel into the other’s space. The films of Tony Gatlif frequently depict westerners travelling into North Africa and Eastern Europe, however the romanticism inherent in this movement is undercut by the films’ insistent marking of these journeys as error. Deprived of the privileged relationship to space enjoyed by the classic road movie protagonist, Gatlif’s characters are instead enveloped by the spaces through which they journey in a manner which recasts the oppositions such as inside/outside and centre/periphery through which western spatial privilege is maintained. This article focuses in particular on Gatlif’s 2004 film Exils and its depiction of the exile’s return to his homeland.